Yo-yo a no-no for some pros

Published 4:00 am, Monday, February 7, 2000

PEBBLE BEACH - Tommy Smothers just thought he was playing with a yo-yo.

Unfortunately, somebody felt Smothers' golf partners were also playing with a yo-yo - a yo-yo named Tommy Smothers.

Call it The Great Pebble Yo-Yo Controversy.

Hey, you've got to have something to write about when Bill Murray isn't around to throw old ladies into bunkers.

Smothers, 63, an 11-time veteran of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am who plays to the crowd better than any celebrity in the tournament, got word late Saturday afternoon that an unattributed complaint had been lodged with the tournament organizers that Smothers' use of yo-yos on the putting greens was a) slowing down play, b) against golf etiquette and c) generally ticking off some golfers who played behind Smothers' foursome.

Uh, not to name any names, but a guy named Eldrick happened to be in the foursome right behind Smothers.

"I don't think Tiger is a yo-yo fan," Smothers said to the laughing gallery after performing another yo-yo trick on a Spyglass green over the weekend.

The routine would go like this: After every player in Smothers' foursome holed out - and if Smothers felt there was enough time - he would break out his yo-yo and walk the dog, do the cradle, and try to roll the yo-yo into the cup. The crowds ate it up.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods and Mark O'Meara would wait for the green to clear before hitting up. Consider it no coincidence that Woods made a point to note the six-hour, 17-minute round he played on Saturday.

Woods, however, is working on his public image and didn't want to rip Smothers outright.

"Well, it was . . . it's been interesting, I guess," Woods said on Sunday after carding a 68 at Pebble Beach behind Smothers. "I don't know, he's having a good time and that's fine. But just so long as he doesn't get in the way of playing in his group and the group behind."

Said Smothers: "If there was time, and Tiger wasn't waiting, you know, it was so slow, but I wasn't slowing down the play. I think they thought I was slowing down the play because they saw the yo-yos working. I was talking to the galleries a lot."

When Smothers was informed that tournament organizers didn't want his yo-yos rolling on their precious greens, Smothers answered with a foolproof plan on Sunday: he broke out his special "golf ball yo-yos", and would roll those around greens after holing out.

"Someone said it was bugging some people, they didn't like the yo-yo, they said that it's not the etiquette of golf to have a yo-yo out there," Smothers said. "That's why I had them made into golf balls. Yeah, they're all shaped like golf balls, are balata-covered, titanium-axel, high-tech, 100 compression.

"I got about 300 of them from my wife for my (63rd) birthday (on Feb. 2). I hand them out to people, and throw them out to kids."

Anyway, consider the Great Yo-Yo Controversy over: Smothers' pro-am team didn't make the cut, and Tiger Woods will have a yo-yo-free day as he tries for his sixth consecutive tour win on Monday. &lt;